Techno-Anxiety and Spiritual Anchorings: Psychological Perspectives on the 2026 Encyclical Magnifica Humanitas

Abstract

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, digital platforms, robotics, and algorithmic systems has created new possibilities for human flourishing while also intensifying uncertainty, loss of control, psychological exhaustion, and concerns about human identity. These experiences may be understood through the concept of techno-anxiety, not simply as fear of technology but as a psychological response to technological acceleration, insecurity, information overload, and changing human relationships. Pope Leo XIV’s 2026 encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, which addresses safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, provides a significant theological framework for understanding these challenges. Although the encyclical is not a psychological treatise, its emphasis on human dignity, freedom, work, relationships, truth, prayer, and hope offers important resources for interdisciplinary reflection. This article argues that Magnifica Humanitas presents the possibility of “spiritual anchoring” amid technological transformation. Such anchoring involves recovering human dignity, interior freedom, meaningful relationships, moral agency, transcendence, prayer, and hope. Drawing upon psychological perspectives on stress, coping, technostress, and digital culture, the article explores how spiritual resources may contribute to psychological resilience without replacing necessary social and technological responses.